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# The Law of Nobility

#### by Richard J Peaty

The copyright of this article remains with the original author. Articles may be copied or distributed freely for personal non-profit use, provided that the author is properly credited.

(An essay on the treatment of Hermetic Magic, as it pertains to those materials thought of as Noble, including a revised list of such materials, by Ricard Terra, scholae Bonisagus. Submitted to the Covenant of Durenmar this thirteen hundred and tenth year of Aquarius)

It has long been observed that certain materials, especially of the Terram form, are harder to affect using Hermetic magic. For example, the creation of precious metals (gold and silver), or gemstones, when compared to the creation of common dirt, is several magnitudes more complex. Yet little thought has been given to why this is so. We are all at fault, indeed, this essay was prompted by my last apprentice asking this very question. Delving deep into the tomes I had inherited I endeavoured to answer my apprentice satisfactorily - without giving glib references to "Nobility" but instead firm facts. After failing to find any such insight into this area I decided to start my own investigation.

The following, whilst not being a definite addition to the standard Hermetic Laws, I offer as a more enlightened explanation behind what I have termed the Law of Nobility. May it provoke more research into a subject which has, in one's humble opinion, been much neglected.

# The Law of Nobility

Most references to the Nobility of certain materials are made about the precious metals, gold and silver. Gemstones are also included , but this is where the distinction ends. This small group, all associated with the form of Terram, is all that is thought of as 'Noble', and yet a little deeper thought will show that this is merely the most obvious examples of noble materials.

## What is Nobility?

There are many interpretations of nobility - in the Mundane world it refers to those people who are set above the peasants, our sodales in House Jerbiton might state that certain works of art, and compositions of music are noble in themselves. I have heard some of my fellow Bonisagi praising some tomes, and the more pious Magi might suggest that certain actions are more noble than others. Instantly we see that there is more than just the label which is placed on certain Terram elements.

We can answer this question though, albeit in a vague fashion - Nobility is that quality of an object which determines its worth. This answer, even though very vague, immediately produces a wider theory for Nobility, since this scale of quality can be expanded to encompass all of the form Terram. Thus the base metals are necessarily less Noble than gold and silver, and dirt is similarly beneath these in Nobility.

## How does Nobility relate to Hermetic Magic?

Now we have applied some sense of Nobility to the complete form of Terram we can stand back and review the structure we have created. It is at once obvious that Nobility is linked to the difficulty of manipulating such items by Hermetic principles - as the apprentice knows that dirt is easy to manipulate, then glass, stone, metal and so on, up to the gemstones, we can say that this is due to the increasing Nobility of the material.

But how does this relate to the answer we have given previously, that Nobility is that quality which determines the worth of an object? This is easy to see - the more we prize an object, the more 'noble' it is. We prize these objects because of their rareness, their complexity, or their resistance to manipulation, and this can be proven in several ways. For example - Gold is highly prized by mundanes, since it is valuable, and by Magi since it can be imbued with a large amount of Vis compared to its size. Gold is also hard to create and manipulate in other ways, by Hermetic means, hence it is very Noble.

But, I hear you ask, why do these two facts necessarily relate? Let me give an example:

If gold were easy to create then members of the Order would create large amounts of it, for relatively small amounts of Vis, thus alleviating Mundane financial troubles relatively simply. This has its drawbacks - the introduction of a large amount of Gold into the commercial structure of Mundane society imbalances this structure and decreases the value of the gold - thus decreasing the Nobility of gold necessarily decreases its worth.

## Nobility and the Hermetic Forms

So far we have only considered the Nobility of those materials which belong to the Form of Terram. Can we apply our theory to any of the other Forms?

First we shall consider Animal. As a starting point we shall take two animals, the Lion - the supposed 'Noblest of beasts' as Aggriandus, scholae Mercere, writes in his "Bestiary of the Levant" - and the rat, among the least noble by any standards.

Creating a specimen of each of these beasts requires the casting of differing magnitudes of spells; The rat can be created by a low level spell, easily cast by any Magus fresh out of his Gauntlet; The Lion needs a spell of several magnitudes greater, taxing most younger Magi.

So far this coincides with the Law of Nobility hypothesis presented: The Nobler beast is more difficult to affect with Hermetic Magic. This is only considering two points of Animal though, we need to expand our supposition to cover the whole form. This can be done easily, and most beasts comply with our hypothesis - cats are harder to manipulate than rats, dogs still harder, and so on. But we find some anomalies in the chain.

First let us take the quandary given by Cattle - these beasts are not as Noble as a Lion, and yet they appear to be as difficult to create Hermetically, why is this? Cattle are abundant and so they cannot be called Noble due to their rarity, and they have few virtues which would make them prized. Yet we find that they are valuable - as a source of nourishment they are worth more than the Noble Lion. Thus this quandary is revealed to be illusionary - we must keep in mind the fact that Nobility is that quality of worth, which has many definitions.

Another perceived fault lies with those beasts which are not mundane by nature - by this I refer to the serpents (including the greater Wyrms and Drakes), Unicorns, and any other beasts which have talents not reproducible by Mundanes. To the layman it seems that a small serpent should surely be easy to create with magic, far easier than a dog, but they forget that the Nobility of the serpent is increased by its poisonous nature - thus it is made inherently more Noble, and thus more difficult to affect, by virtue of this talent despite the seeming ignobility of this talent.

A simple step can be taken by stating that magical creatures are one step further up the Nobility 'scale' compared to their mundane counterparts.

Let us reprise: We have the size of a creature, and its talents contributing towards its increase in its inherent Nobility, thus the greatest Wyrm is one of the Noblest of beasts.

From this, it is but a short step to apply the same principles to the form of Corpus. A small child is easier to affect than a full-grown man, and far harder still to affect a Magus (if one so desired). In fact, applying the Law of Nobility broadly, and to its fullest limits, we can conclude that, if we take Corpus and Animal to be but sub-forms of one larger form - that of Magic - Corpus is the Nobler of the two, since Man is above beasts in all ways. This means that, being members of the Order, my gifted sodales are surely the Noblest of all.

This does raise interesting issues which I have been unable to investigate fully (not wishing to impinge upon the grey areas of the Peripheral code) - is it harder to affect a Noble mundane than the lowliest of peasants? If so, is this effect noticeable compared to the vast gulf between Mundanes and the Gifted?

To avoid further, mindless repetition I shall make some rather broad, sweeping statements which, although frowned upon by the more precise members of my House, should enable the basic facts to become apparent to the whole Order. I am planning to delve further into the intricacies of this Law in future papers, but wished to make my research, so far, known to all.

Thus, we can apply these basic principles to the other 8 forms, primarily taking the size of the effect, or object to give a rough indication of its worth - with, perhaps the least obvious being Mentem, here I would suggest that the more intelligent the target, the more Noble. This correlates with our placing of Magi at the top of the Nobility, by virtue of their superior minds, and their innate magical resistance, given by their Parma Magica.

## The Nobility of the Arts

Considering the whole of Bonisagus' fifteen Arts, we can attempt to place these on a scale of Nobility. A contentious decision perhaps, but one which is sure to provoke new thoughts on several areas of Hermetic theory.

We have already started placing the forms in such a scale - we can readily add Herbam to the list so far:

(Least Noble) | Herbam | Animal | Corpus | Mentem | (Most Noble)

We now start to come to the difficult forms, some would argue that, since the elements are the basis of everything, they are naturally of great Nobility. Others would say that life is but an illusion, and that Imaginem must thus be placed higher on the scale, and so on - each specialist promoting their chosen form. There is also the issue of whether the elemental forms are, in fact, equal - one need not talk to a Flambeau for long to find out their view. I will place myself in the precarious position of stating my own opinion on such matters, below.

The elements, linked as they are must, logically be equal and, using this if we can find the position of any one of these four forms in our scale we can place them all. Taking Terram we can see that, as one of the most abundant forms, but without inherent intelligence (it is common knowledge that those closely associated with this form have limited intellects - take, for example the Earth-born Fay, or the ground-tilling peasant) Terram must be lower than Herbam, although not by much. In fact, I should point out that the positioning of the forms on our scale does not limit them to that position - rather I have placed the lower limit of the form on the scale - the more Noble areas of Terram exceed Herbam, just as the baser areas are more ignoble.

Vim, being the very core of Hermetic Theory must be placed at the top of our scale. This leaves us with Imaginem - that most illusive of forms. Where can this be placed in our scale?

Let us review our scale:

(Least Noble) | The 'elements' | Herbam | Animal | Corpus | Mentem | Vim | (Most Noble)

I would, if pressed, place Imaginem at the centre of our scale, Corpus is obviously more Noble, whilst Animal is most likely to be less Noble, albeit not by much.

The Forms dealt with, I now turn my attention to the Techniques - a much more difficult task, one might think. This is not so, as our pious brethren would say Creation is the highest talent of all - one which exceeds the Hermetic Arts - and is thus at the top of our scale, similarly Perdition, must be at the base of our scale. Perception is greater than the rest, for without it we would be unable to advance our understanding of our surroundings, leaving us with change - Muto - and its antithesis, Rego - the absence of change beyond our control. Since it is in the nature of things to change - water will flow, ice will melt - we can place Rego above Muto, thus arriving at our final scale:

(Least Noble) | Perdo | Muto | Rego | Intellego | Creo | (Most Noble)

We now have a structure which places the fifteen Arts in order of their Nobility, or worth. This does not mean that the lesser Noble of the Arts are in anyway inferior - all have their place in Bonisagus' framework, and removing any one of them would fatally flaw our use of the Gift. I am, instead, attempting to address the difference in ease between the Arts, where some ask why it is that certain Form and Technique combinations appear to be more efficient.

## Perfect and Imperfect Objects

Helvius Pertinax, that well-known Terram Magus, asked me during this research why it was that gemstones of great worth were so easy to create. He stated that, using high magnitude Creo Terram spells, we can create gemstones of such size that they would break the Law of Nobility. By this he referred to the method of creating gemstones using a slightly higher magnitude than before, but increasing the value of the gem by a much larger amount than would first be thought possible under the Law of Nobility. First impressions would give this view, but, if we take a moment or two to consider, we can see that the worth of the gemstone is not increased beyond the scope given by our Law. For, what is being forgotten is the perfection of the object.

If we create a gemstone, of usual size, we can easily make it permanent by using Vis in our casting. This permanence is natural - the gemstone will not appear to be a magical construction since, using the Vis, we have made it a permanent part of the world. If, however, we create an unusually large gemstone, larger than any we would find in any mine, even by using Vis we cannot make this naturally permanent. It will always be a magical construct, detectable by Intellego magics, and able to be destroyed by Perdo Vim spells. This gemstone is an imperfect stone, it is useless for magical enchantment, since, by being a magical creation, it has lost the natural qualities which would be beneficial for such a stone (for example that quality of a Diamond which enhances magics warding against the infernal). The smaller gemstone will not have lost these qualities, having kept its natural qualities.

If we wish to create such a large gemstone, which is 'perfect' then we must adhere to the Law of Nobility, and create a spell of much higher magnitude - almost certainly a ritual. Then, and only then, will it be a natural stone, but the increase in the spell magnitude is far beyond the meager talents of such a theoretician as I, and so the exact details of this area of research I must, regretfully, leave for more specialised Magi.

To summarise the Law of Nobility, I will state that it is that Law which determines, by virtue of the quality of worth of an object, the ease of Hermetic manipulation of said object. I have proven beyond all reasonable doubt that it conforms to all previous theories, and holds true for all the Forms and Techniques.